Watching an old episode of Top Gear on BBC as I write this. Currently, James May is racing two twentysomethings, driving a Peueot 207. The twentysomethings are running, jumping over cars, buildings, that sort of thing, while Captain Slow is following the Liverpool roads. Typical Top Gear, I'd say.
Now, my daughter says I'm old. Age-old, in fact, long past the age when I understood even the slightest bit about anyone in her generation. Me watching Top Gear is all the proof anyone would ever need, she says. It's a old man's show but also a geek's show, and of no interest whatsoever.
I was rooting for Captain Slow right from the start. Young kids in funny clothes jumping from roofs? Oh please. Some dignity, please. And, for pete's sake, they are racing a car. Even Captain Slow can't lose that.
Right?
During the challenge (that's what they call it), it struck me that I may be choosing sides because of my age. It's a case of identification. May is roughly my age while the kids in funny clothes are probably more than 20 years younger. What if mine really isn't the only possible vantage point? What if someone, oh, I don't know, a younger person, would quite naturally hope the kids won? What if there was a TV series focussing on the kids and the grumpy old men were there to provide the stars with a challenge, not the other way around?
The kids won. Thankfully there's always another episode to look forward to.
Friday 31 August 2012
Thursday 30 August 2012
Writing Copy
I've been busy writing commercial copy for our service and product portfolio. This is very hard. How does one express the advantages of our rather technical offerings without resorting to empty clichés and, frankly speaking, an unidentifiable product?
Unidentifiable? Well, yes, because at the core, the content management system we develop is far from being unique when described in market-speak. Nor are our services so different from those offered by our competitors when one is only allowed a bird's view, and a stratospheric bird's at that. Whatever our advantages, they start on a purely technical level and any explanation that won't immediately put the casual observer to sleep will, at best, be so superficial it borders on generic and therefore not unique.
This is why I don't usually write marketing copy. While I've often claimed not to be a programmer, I am certainly not a copywriter. I don't do the kind of head-first marketing that shamelessly exploits one cliché after another and claims everything to be either my invention or my company's, and, of course, bigger than, oh, I dunno, teh interwebz.
Because someone will always see right through you. In my case, it might well be someone I know.
Buy our products. They are awesome.
Unidentifiable? Well, yes, because at the core, the content management system we develop is far from being unique when described in market-speak. Nor are our services so different from those offered by our competitors when one is only allowed a bird's view, and a stratospheric bird's at that. Whatever our advantages, they start on a purely technical level and any explanation that won't immediately put the casual observer to sleep will, at best, be so superficial it borders on generic and therefore not unique.
This is why I don't usually write marketing copy. While I've often claimed not to be a programmer, I am certainly not a copywriter. I don't do the kind of head-first marketing that shamelessly exploits one cliché after another and claims everything to be either my invention or my company's, and, of course, bigger than, oh, I dunno, teh interwebz.
Because someone will always see right through you. In my case, it might well be someone I know.
Buy our products. They are awesome.
Monday 27 August 2012
Balisage Impressions, At Long Last
I tend to write these "long time no post" posts from time to time. It's a guilt thing, I suppose, and it's how this post began life.
This time, though, I did have things to write about. There is the Balisage 2012 markup conference I attended two weeks ago, and it would be such a waste not to post something on it. I gave a paper there, my little something on how to implement XProc with more XML, and I even participated in MarkLogic's demo jam with even more of the same. Great fun, that.
The most fun I had at Balisage had to do with listening to others give papers, however, with special mention having to go to Wendell Piez's talk about how to process LMNL (non-XML) markup. LMNL is all about overlapping structures, the kind of thing that XML just won't do, and it's absolutely awesome. For some reason I've not given the overlap problem (or, for that matter, the related problem with discontinuous structures) much thought lately. I should have. LMNL, it seems to me, should be very useful for analysing dead languages such as Middle Egyptian where overlapping markup could be used to present alternative interpretations for grammar, pronunciation, and so on. There's a paper begging to be written, right there. Next year, maybe.
It is good sometimes to remember that XML is not the answer to everything.
But there was more, a lot more. There were some excellent presenters, such as Steven Pemberton discussing abstraction errors (among others, in the C language), Norm Walsh with his compact XProc syntax proposal, and, of course, the undisputed king of keynotes, Michael Sperberg-McQueen, who, as Eric van der Vlist tweeted, "has a special gift to make each presenter feel clever in his closing keynotes." And so many others.
And I really should mention Betty Harvey's talk about implementing low-cost electronic documentation for a DoD contractor. In glorious SGML. I love history lessons, especially in my chosen field, and Betty's was a stroll down memory lane.
Anyway, Balisage was fun and you really should have been there. Or maybe not if you aren't into markup, but if so, why are you still reading this?
This time, though, I did have things to write about. There is the Balisage 2012 markup conference I attended two weeks ago, and it would be such a waste not to post something on it. I gave a paper there, my little something on how to implement XProc with more XML, and I even participated in MarkLogic's demo jam with even more of the same. Great fun, that.
The most fun I had at Balisage had to do with listening to others give papers, however, with special mention having to go to Wendell Piez's talk about how to process LMNL (non-XML) markup. LMNL is all about overlapping structures, the kind of thing that XML just won't do, and it's absolutely awesome. For some reason I've not given the overlap problem (or, for that matter, the related problem with discontinuous structures) much thought lately. I should have. LMNL, it seems to me, should be very useful for analysing dead languages such as Middle Egyptian where overlapping markup could be used to present alternative interpretations for grammar, pronunciation, and so on. There's a paper begging to be written, right there. Next year, maybe.
It is good sometimes to remember that XML is not the answer to everything.
But there was more, a lot more. There were some excellent presenters, such as Steven Pemberton discussing abstraction errors (among others, in the C language), Norm Walsh with his compact XProc syntax proposal, and, of course, the undisputed king of keynotes, Michael Sperberg-McQueen, who, as Eric van der Vlist tweeted, "has a special gift to make each presenter feel clever in his closing keynotes." And so many others.
And I really should mention Betty Harvey's talk about implementing low-cost electronic documentation for a DoD contractor. In glorious SGML. I love history lessons, especially in my chosen field, and Betty's was a stroll down memory lane.
Anyway, Balisage was fun and you really should have been there. Or maybe not if you aren't into markup, but if so, why are you still reading this?
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